Cambridge United v Crawley Town: Garry Monk expects Sky Bet League One fixture to be ‘clash of the same styles’

Cambridge United head coach Garry Monk has billed Saturday’s home Sky Bet League One fixture against Crawley Town as ‘a clash of the same styles’.

Throughout the summer Monk, who took charge of the U’s in March with 11 games of the previous campaign remaining, has been working with his squad to implement a more easy-on-the-eye playing style.

And there was plenty of evidence that the pre-season sessions have been paying dividends against Queens Park Rangers in the League Cup on Tuesday night, when despite losing the tie 2-1, United dominated large parts of the contest.

From a tactical perspective Monk sees plenty of similarities between what he is trying to introduce at the Cledara Abbey Stadium and the way in which newly-promoted Crawley operate under his opposite number Scott Lindsey.

And therefore he is expecting a tightly-fought contest that will be decided by who is able to get the better of the ‘individual battles’.

He said: “You’ll see it will be completely different game and a different feel to Tuesday because of the way Crawley go about it.

“Crawley are basically are doing what we’re trying to do, and obviously they’ve done it for a lot longer than us.

“They’re really good in the build up and it’s literally going to be a clash of the same styles. Often what that means is that the game will be very transitional and it will be about who can win those key moments.

“There will be a lot of heavy pressing on each other, a lot of congestion and man-for-man situations. It’s who comes out on top of those individual battles will more than likely have a good opportunity to win the game. We need to be really on our mettle on everything we’re doing against them.

“Like us, they were tipped to be relegation fodder but when I look at them I really like them. I like what the manager has done and the success they’ve come up with.

“I know they’ve made changes in the squad but it doesn’t look like it’s affected them at all. They’ve come up with confidence, they play in a good way it will be a difficult game.”

Whereas Cambridge were beaten 2-0 at Stockport County on the opening day last weekend, Crawley kicked off with a 2-1 home win over Blackpool. The Red Devils also got the better of lower-league Swindon Town 4-2 in the League Cup on Tuesday night.